The wrap

A look back on last week's events

By
Becky Lucas and Jeremy Lawrence
18 August 2009

Hop Fest

Long queues spilled out of the meagrely air-conditioned tent at this year’s Hop Fest, held at the Irish Village. Inside, hordes of revellers put up with soaring temperatures to get a pint of their favourite brew (with more than 120 to choose from) and dance to the tried and tested anthems, courtesy of Dubai’s enthusiastic cover bands. It being the Hop Fest Time Out spotted security guards breaking up a wobbly human totem pole and two fights. Business as usual then…Daisy Carrington

Abri’s final hurrah

The Abri farewell gig on August 12 might only have had lead singer Hamdan on stage (two of them had moved to London and the fourth was selling CDs), but that wasn’t really a problem – the man had enough energy to power New York for a year. Leaping about and dancing with the audience didn’t distract from the strength of his voice. We wish the boys luck with their careers in London – though with Hamdan on the mic we don’t think they’ll need it.James Wilkinson